Hi,

I have taken the hard drive out of my old computer and have connected it externally using an IDE SATA to USB cable.

Because I am using Windows Xp it is not necessary to install any drivers.

I have connected it up and powered it using an AC adapter that came with the cable.

My computer is telling me that the device is working properly.

However, when I go to 'My Computer', the drive is not showing up.


So I dont know how to access the information contained within my external hard-drive.:hrmf:

Can anyone give me some practical advice, as to how I retrieve the information stored on my external hard-drive?

Thanks in Advance :luvya:

Because the drive is connected via USB it will come up on 'My Computer' as a 'Removable disk' and will not show up with your hard drives. Try powering the device off whilst you have 'My Computer' open and then power it back on again to see if anything appears/disappears.

Let us know how you get on.

Tried turning on and off power supply, no joy

But its not even showing up as a 'removable storage'
on My computer:bigmad:

But thanks for the suggestion

What is the exact nature of this connection:

"IDE SATA to USB cable"

Is it seen under Disk Management?

Have a look at this thread (post #4);

http://www.d-a-l.com/help/showthread...6659#post96659

there is usually a jumper setting on the back of the hard drive, that could be the problem. if it is not set for USB it won't show up in my computers

Hi, I've solved the problems and the external drive is now showing up in ''My Computers".

It was one of those simple yet obscure technical difficulties...

switching the power supply on and off did nothing...

But, when I swapped over the keyboard USB plug with the SATA CABLE USB, the drive began to work and show up in ''My Computers".


Thanks For ALL of Your Suggestions.

The thing is I have one more problem, hopefully you may have some ideas on this..

The external hard-drive I am using was taken from my old PC which stopped working:

All of the information stored in the C: drive of the hard drive are showing up.

The mainproblem is when I try to access information stored on the desktop of the User accounts which were set up on my old computer and strored on the external hard-drive which I have connected to my Laptop via a "SATA IDE USB cable"

The User accounts set on my old computer are showing up on my laptop, however...

I am being denied access to information held within the User accounts which were password protected on my old computer.

Is there anyway to access this information that is being denied to me, by taking the password off or inputing the password to gain access?

Have a look at this MSKB article;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421/en-us

Thanks Dan,

That Article contained the exact information I needed.

Problem solved!!

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